The present invention relates to a material handling apparatus in which loads are transferred between vehicles
During the operation of an automated warehouse facility, incoming loads may be positioned on an automatic guided vehicle. The automatic guided vehicle is movable along a spur from a main aisle to a storage aisle which extends parallel to the main aisle. The load is then transferred from the automatic guided vehicle to a stacker crane. The stacker crane moves the load along the storage aisle to a storage location where the load is to be stored. The load is then transferred from the stacker crane to the storage location.
When a load is to be removed from the warehouse facility, the stacker crane moves to the storage location where the desired load is located. The stacker crane picks up the desired load and moves the load to the main aisle. At the main aisle, the load is transferred from the stacker crane to the automatic guided vehicle. The automatic guided vehicle moves along the main aisle to a location from which the load is moved from the warehouse facility.